The birds must be crazy

Yesterday, during my yoga class at home (done with a teachers voice recording for instruction) there were a lot of banging noises at regular intervals. Thought someone was throwing stones on my window or a tennis ball.. was already on the floor series and wiped out, so it was easy to ignore and keep going with the class.

This morning was a different story. As soon as the class started there was a thud. Then I saw this bird come and fly full force against the window and hit the glass..

It did it again. . . and again.. so I had to pause the audio, take a 15 minute break to film this angry bird that was distracting me from yoga. 

Bird 1: Sundar 0 

it doesnt take much to beat me.. any small distraction could ruin my focus. so it is a miracle that I can go through any class.

Even took a slow mo video of it. It is a very determined bird.. the way it preps on the edge of the fence in the same location and launches itself at the window. We never furnished the guest room after finishing construction 4 years ago.. so it just has this Dhoti on push pins for a curtain. maybe that is giving it a very strong reflection? Don't know. Have never seen any bird behave like this before. 

I have seen a bird fight with its reflection on our Prius side mirror and go shit all over the window..

but this one is weird! 

After resuming the class I just got used to the bang and thud every 2 minutes.. 

This bird made at least 40 attempts that I counted over a 90 minute period. If only my focus and determination to ignore this noise and keep doing yoga matched that of the bird's to come hit the window!!!

Then again on a positive note, it is end of September and we still have 3 months to go in 2020.. but my yoga attendance has been great as there is no travel!

the birds are all back.. including the hummingbird family. Hope to get some pictures over the weekend just sitting down in one place in the backyard, camera in hand.. it is a meditation of sorts. Keep focusing on one place hoping the hummingbird will come to that flower again! 

In spite of all the antics, the bird made me go outside and watch it post class for 30 minutes and I realized it was not one bird.. there were two taking turns!!

It must be some kind of game..

Fathers day gifts from family

Most of the families we know went out to some beach, local park etc. We did not go out today. Went for walks around the block, did yoga, took pictures and that was it.  Really did not know how crowded it would be in those places and wanted to go next week when it would be less crowded. 

I love my family for their support when it comes to yoga. They might not all be doing yoga with me, but they do support me immensely. 

They watch me with amusement as I keep trying to do the same thing over and over again. 

Usually there would be a yoga class on Sunday morning at BYSJ and they would give our a rose to take back for all dads and we would take a picture. The missing years are ones where I had to catch a 1PM United Flight to China on Fathers day.. 

Today we had to make do with a small rose from our own backyard but the kids obliged with a picture and even gave me permission to post it ! That is two old photos to recreate in one day!

Then after I finished the 90 minute class, they helped me with a little demo where I wanted to see how close to "sitting in the chair, not below the chair" the awkward pose was.. and if I did indeed straighten my back. It was weird to do this.. but if you have family volunteers this is worth trying to get a feel for what this pose should be like..

The end result was okay.. Need to do a lot more exercise to get rid of some belly fat. Sitting all day in the same place in meetings does not help that much. There was one yoga teacher who would stand only on his big toes and go ballerina style on this.. in another 5 years will try it.

This has been a good day! Wishing all of the dads out there a happy Fathers day. I am not too thrilled that my dad is in Chennai and I cannot even go see him right now if I want to. Hopefully that changes soon. 

My wife and kids made my day!

International Yoga Day

Wishing all of you some Yoga (or other exercise if you are one of those people who spend more time debating and talking about Yoga, its origins, who started it, who it belongs to today etc. etc. and spends less time doing yoga or exercising) on this day. 

We definitely have more daylight today.. so go use that extra daylight to get exercise.

Sometimes worlds collide and Yoga day and Fathers day are one and the same.. and when the Bifrost opens, I can get to emotionally appeal to the kids to take that photo again.

The darlings did it with a smile!

So

the little one outgrew that shirt and it went to goodwill already.. but Jr. and me still have the same things to wear! 

I was surprised that they could both get into Lotus pose.. thought they would give up! Once they got in the lifting part was not hard.  

Wish they are a lot more active going forward and don't end up having to find Yoga at a much older age.. it is right in front of them now!

Go get some workout done! I for one wish BYSJ opens soon and I can sweat freely for 90 minutes and detox. It has been 99 days of doing yoga alone at home with audio recordings or zoom classes and I made it 90 days out of 99. Given all the craziness that surrounds us, Yoga helps for the 90 minutes and a few hours after class or sometimes an entire day if I just do the yoga and stay away from any electronic devices! 

Based on my personal experience, Yoga works! 

I am not trying to sound like a spokesperson for "alldaysmatter".. but then again, if we treated our parents right, maybe there wouldn't be a "fathers" or "mother" day which seems to be a lowest common denominator and a bare minimum towards parents. We live in a culture where Fathers get a card once a year and that is deemed the right thing to do. Happy there is a day designated for this to bring awareness, but IDY is not the one day you do Yoga and forget about exercise for the rest of the year. I dont want it to end up like another Jan 1st for a lot of folks!

Maybe a day for Yoga is what is needed right now to bring visibility. Eventually, everyday will be yoga day. 

some cool yoga tips

My teachers say some things very casually as corrections and move on during Yoga class.. usually at the studio, we have the opportunity to discuss these lightbulb moments right after class.

I have had so many such moments where a certain word is used by a teacher for the first time by way of a second level explanation to what they are asking us to do and that one word switch clicks in the head.

Now that yoga classes have become isolated affairs, it is not easy to have such live discussions. However, there is a forum where we are still fortunate enough to post comments and photos videos to get clarifications.

Today we had yet another zoom yoga class at BYSJ. While in class, our teacher Michelle casually mentions "Sundar, press your knees closer to each other" and she went on to correct someone else.. she is seeing me as a small thumbnail and gives me a correction that was very profound for me..

it makes it so much easier to lift up in toe stand when you compact the base. it was like my floor was solid and in one piece and I had no worries of my leg unraveling during a perpendicular movement..

If I lost you in the previous sentence... especially if you dont do toe stands, dont worry, you are not alone. That is every yoga class for me!  I get lost easily..

Before class we got to chat with teachers and one of the great tips from the forum was for a stretching pose "pachimottanasana". 

my ankle is off the ground.. it is not visible in the photograph.... and my knee is locked.. I am just bow legged so you see that gap in the floor above the knee. 

Jr. helped shoot these videos of me explaining my lightbulb moments from todays yoga class.. she has inherited the sarasm gene from me, as you can clearly tell from the video. 

She will be missed when she goes to college. No one else in this house is willing to do yoga videos for me. 

I have been a mess mentally thanks to all the recent news and I became the "red chitti" version of myself on social media trying to mock the world for what it is. In the process I trolled myself pretty badly and this class has brought me back to sanity!

It has been a very busy work week and I could not even go out for walks or do yoga many times this week, thanks to the recovering ankle and meetings that have pretty much been round the clock. That did not help my mental state either. 

Tomorrow I plan to do a lot more yoga and walk and even bike a little to make up for last weeks inactivity.

The world definitely becomes a better and bearable place with yoga! Seriously think Yoga should be available as a course for people in law enforcement.. It will also help people who are trying to rehabilitate if made available. 

60 day challenge 2020

2020 is something.. 

In spite of the virus raging in China and slowly making its way here, the January-March 60 day challenge was on. I started on Jan 1st and finished the challenge 7 days ahead. 

There was no travel and that actually made it easy. I still did doubles early on because there was a flight ticket in my inbox that keep moving to a later date and eventually got cancelled. 

Since the stay at home order, have been continuing the Yoga at home with recorded dialogues from my teachers. Have done another 60 day challenge staying at home after the original one.

There is obviously no party to celebrate, no stories to share. We are all part of the most interesting story of our lifetime with COVID-19.  Surviving this is the only priority. 

Yoga has definitely continued to keep me sane during these times. 

Michelle was nice enough to fly me a T-Shirt at BYSJ! She has also been teaching on Zoom and still predicts with millisecond accuracy on when I am about to give up, unlock my knee and gives corrections online once a week. All my teachers also give me corrections based on photos and videos I post on the group forums. 

Sincerely hope to do yoga in a hot room soon enough! cannot wait.. it was hard to be outside BYSJ and not do Yoga!

Here is the picture with the shirt and my shaved head to go with it!

Was going to ask my kids to draw the last airbender tattoo pattern on my head with a sharpie to take this picture and decided against it.. who knows if I will get an allergic reaction to the sharpie. . maybe with Mehendi... if my wife or MIL are up to it.. it is not like I am going out to meet anyone for another 20 days at least.. 

Now for the charts..

for the first time I did a class every day in the 60 days and 2 on some days in 2020.. 

My weight was okay during the challenge but since then I have added a couple of pounds.. 

Hope there is another challenge later this year when the Yoga studio reopens and I get to practice with all you fellow yogis! 

Thank you BYSJ and all the teachers for doing what you do, even in these tough times to keep us fit and sane!